Employees remember couple killed in plane crash

Employees and customers at a popular Asian restaurant in Danbury say they're stunned by news that the owners apparently died in a plane crash. Val and Taew Horsa were in the 1971 single-engine Cessna

News 12 Staff

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Nov 22, 2015, 1:45 AM

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Updated 3,363 days ago

Employees and customers at a popular Asian restaurant in Danbury say they're stunned by news that the owners apparently died in a plane crash.

Val and Taew Horsa were in the 1971 single-engine Cessna that vanished on its approach to Danbury Airport around 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

The couple had owned the Bangkok Restaurant in Danbury for 30 years, according to Val's son, Eric. The restaurant was closed Friday in the wake of the tragedy.

Crews found some pieces of the plane along with human remains in the Titicus Reservoir Friday afternoon, but officials haven't identified those remains yet.

Eric Horsa says that his father was an experienced pilot, and he and his wife often took short trips.

"My dad had been flying since 1986," Eric Horsa said. "He was an instrument-rated pilot. He'd been flying to the Bahamas, Block Island, you name it, he's gone there."

Workers say Val Horsa often invited his employees to ride in his plane, and had taken it with his wife on a trip to Mississippi for her birthday.

One of the workers says she had been invited on the Mississippi trip, but had to stay home at the last minute.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.